Fort Worth weekly gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-10-14

to GUST them by legal process. Your cor
respondent learns that If Grin inal PROS
ecution is begun the matter will probably
be brought before the Court. of Appeals
on hsbeas corpus, in which event the
constltutionaIity of the lease law will be
tested. Another ground OF defense which
will be urged by Mr.. Browning, and
which II sustained will have most i'm
portant bearing upon the new land law,
| is that no sexual settler on public lands
prior TO the time the new law went into
effect can be deprived of his prior right
to purchase the land he occupies within
six months after the land has been CLASH
fed and put upon the market, that no
lease which may be made can
affect this right, and that #
cannot be concluded by the exercise Of
the discretionary powers of the Land
Commissioner.
It vas stated to THE GAZETTE re-
porter by one of the settlers that he had
it on good authority that before applying
to lease Mr.. Drew, manager OF the com
pany, went down to Austin to ascertain
whether in case he leased the land he
could eject the settlers. The inform
ant Of the settler said that being
assured he could do so Mr.. Drew
at once perfected the lease.
Messrs Jones and Boyd, The repre-
sentatlves Of the settlers who came to
M0beelie to investigate their rights, have
written the following
LETTER TO GOVERNOR ROSS:
MOBEETIE, TEX, October.6, 1887.
Hop. L. S Ross, Governor, Austin, Tex.
DEAR SIR-The undersigned desire to
call your attention to the condition Of af-
fairs in Collingsworth county. There are
about thirty families of actual settlers
located upon scho3l lands, principally
upon Eden creek and Salt Fork Of Red
river in COllingsworth county, most OF
| which have small punches OF cattle num-
beriug from ten to 500 head. We have
settled upon these lands in good faith
with the view of securing homes by ultl-
mate purchase from the state,
and with that intent have made
permanent and valuable improve
ments, such as houses, wells, fences, etc.
The length of time of our settlements
ranges from one to four years. With but
few exceptions ell of the settlers have
small tracks of lands fenced snd in cuIti-
walton, upon which they have depended
largely for snstenance. The lands in
question are within the range of the
Rocking Chair Ranch Company, corpor-
alton chartered by Great Britain, which
has purchased the private lands slterna-
| ting with the school sections. For four
| years this company has occupied and had
fenced tract of 474 sections (903, 1860
acres) of which It owned but one-haIf,
the balance being the property Of the
state. Daring this period it has paid no
rental to the state. 4 few days ago each
and all of the settlers referred to were
notified by one J John Drew, manager of
the Rocking Chair Ranch Company, that
the company had leased the entire tract
so enclosed from the state, and that sll
settlers on 1t must get out immediately,
under penalty of 8 criminal prosecution
| in Travis county We would respectfully
represent to your excallenCy that such
| lease, If any has been made, was in defiance
| of our rights as actual settlers
under the provisions Of che law giving Us
prior right to purchase; that relying
upon such privilege We did not expect
any disposition of the lands until q CLASH
| flea ion by the state, which has not been
made, and that these lands have been
leased without giving US chance to pro-
| tect our rights, our homes and our fami-
lies by purchase or lease. The winter is
| upOQ us oBc VIZ nave NJ biuIo W pISp6IS
! habitations elsewhere fer our fsmiliesto es-
cape It's severity The manager OF the COM
pany.has given Us peremptory orders TO get
out at once, stating that be had need for
all the land. We appeal to you, as the
! supreme executor of the law, to protect
Us, If possible, in our rights and homes,
which have been invaded without warn
ing, and prevent the sacrifice Of years OF
labor, the results of which will otherwise
be couhscated to the lessee. Very re-
spectfully, VIM. JONES,
| G. ". BOYD.
"Nothing could be more deplorable,"
said a conservative citizen of Mobeetie,
ethan the election of these settlers from
their homes. II the settlers rights are
not to be respected, right in the heart of
the most thickly populated psrt Of the
Panhandle, and after they have built up
such prosperous colony, and made so
many improvements as these parties,
what can we hope for in the wsy OF set
tlement and Development 1 am no
alarmist, and l would not care TO under
take to
MEASURE THE CONSEQUENCE
of throwing the settlers out of their
houses. Winter is near ST hand; they
have nowhere else to go; some Of them
with families would suffer, and suffer
severely. But their own loss would be
as nothing compared to the disastrous
results to this section. What must be
the effect of such thing upon immigrs-
ton. The rejection of thirty families
from houses, improved in good faith, by
a foreign corporation which isn't even
permitted by our laws to
buy sn acre of land by heavens
sir, it is greater outrage
than ever was committed on Irish peas
sntry. Ii it is contaminated, public in
dignstion will run high, and those who
have provoked it may fiad it even more
difficult to soothe than they did in 1884 u
The Rocking Chair Ranch company is
the one in which the Earl of Aberdeen,
VINO recently visited this country, IS in
terested. 1t is one of the wealthiest, il
not the wealthiest, cattle company doing
business in the Panhandle.
!